SOU recognized with Climate Leadership Award
NEWS RELEASE (online at https://goo.gl/Hz6vZs)
(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University is one of just six U.S. colleges and universities that will be recognized this week with Climate Leadership Awards at the 10th annual Presidential Climate Leadership Summit of the nonprofit organization Second Nature.
SOU and three other colleges or universities will receive honorable mentions during the three-day leadership summit’s awards luncheon on Tuesday. Two institutions – Arizona State University and Johnson County Community College in Kansas – will be named winners of the 2017 Climate Leadership Awards.
Second Nature, which was formed in 1993 to mobilize higher education toward the goal of sustainability, hosts the leadership summit each year as a touch-base opportunity for its Climate Leadership Network – made up of more than 600 colleges and universities in every state and the District of Columbia.
Member institutions each commit to take action on climate issues and prepare students to solve current and future challenges. Members may make a “Carbon Commitment” to work toward carbon neutrality; a “Resilience Commitment” to focus on climate adaptation; or a “Climate Commitment” to do both.
SOU and 14 other public and private colleges and universities in Oregon are Climate Leadership Network members, and SOU is one of four institutions in the state that have made the Climate Commitment.
SOU has also been honored with the Best Case Study Award by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, was the nation’s first certified Bee Campus USA and offers LEED Gold campus housing at its Raider Village complex.
The Second Nature Climate Leadership Awards recognize leadership in sustainability, climate mitigation and resilience. The awards are made in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Center for Green Schools.
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About Southern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University provides outstanding student experiences, valued degrees, and successful graduates. SOU is known for excellence in faculty, intellectual creativity and rigor, quality and innovation in connected learning programs, and the educational benefits of its unique geographic location. SOU was the first university in Oregon—and one of the first in the nation—to offset 100 percent of its energy use with clean, renewable power. It is the first university in the nation to balance 100 percent of its water consumption. Visit sou.edu.